CLIB International Conference 2020

After a year off, the CIC was back on the international stage. With 165 participants, 30 lecturers and two days full of exciting topics, CLIB wanted to illuminate how sustainable foundations can be built for future generations. Already the initial lectures suggested that the topics of sustainability and biotechnology are no longer just theory and science, but have actually found their way into real products.

The first day was in the light of high-performance ingredients and the corresponding HiPerIn2.0 project,funded by the MWIDE. In his greeting, Minister
Pinkwart emphasised that the time has now come for biotechnology to finally create facts in the form of start-ups and scale-ups and how HiPerIns can act
as pioneers in this regard with their high added value.
However, external framework conditions also influence the current state and the future development of the biotech-sector. Accordingly, the first day also
touched these cross-cutting topics like digitalisation, circularity and regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, a whole session addressed the topic of alternative
protein sources for food and feed. With a growing world population and a more demanding middle class, the already visible problems with our current
systems and processes to produce proteins will become even more pressing.
The first day ended with a lively panel discussion about public perception of bioeconomy and biobased products. It clearly highlighted the different
perspectives that must be considered when trying to address the broader public about ideas and innovations. Scientific details and strategic discussions are
justified, but are unsuitable for reaching the broader public.

The second day centered around the tri-national open innovation initiative Bioinnovation Growth mega-Cluster (BIG-Cluster) and the three R&D&I projects ALIGN, BioCOnversion, and CROSSBEE, all coordinated by CLIB. You can find out more about the topics of the second day in the separate article on the next page.

For the CLIB management, the CIC2020 was a great success.
“We enjoyed seeing our members and broader network using every minute of the breaks for discussions and networking. Supporting biotechnological innovations
by providing a platform which is so well received is a great compliment for our cluster and our CLIB team.”, says cluster manager Dennis Herzberg,
“We thank all speakers, moderators and visitors for their input and I would also like to thank the whole CLIB team again for organising this successful conference.
We are already looking forward to the CIC2021.”

Finally, there is an invitation for next year.
Mark the 4th and 5th February in the calendar for the CIC2021!